Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said Sunday that the die-hard Shiv Sainik is still loyal to Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray and it is evident in various districts across Maharashtra.Speaking at a media interaction in Kolhapur, Pawar said, “It is a fact that a faction has moved out of the Shiv Sena. Some legislators and MPs have switched loyalties and moved away from Thackeray. But when I travel across the state it comes to notice that the die-hard committed Sainik at the grassroots has not moved away. They are very much with Thackeray.”
After the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, Thackeray had snapped ties with long-term ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and tied-up with the NCP and Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state. The Thackeray government collapsed in June last year after a revolt led by Shinde against the Sena leadership. To a query on the issue of alliance, Pawar said, “The understanding is that the Congress, NCP and Uddhav Thackeray should work together (for the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra polls). The Republican Party and some groups should be included. But we are having discussions. We take decisions jointly on many issues, so there should not be any problem in this." The NCP chief had last year also said the MVA allies should fight the Maharashtra Assembly elections together.